Equestria's Reclaimer
by Smirkythread
Summary: Humanity is almost extinct and is now forced to abandon Earth. During the course of the evacuation, one Spartan risks all in a rescue operation and is now left stranded in Equestria,broken and without purpose. Not if the girls have their way of course. Halo and MLP crossover. Rainbow DashxOC
1. Chapter 1

**Author's notes**: This is my first story and if it is well received it will be one of many. I'm going to deviating quite a bit from the official facts of both Halo and MLP in this fic, I haven't decided on everything so please excuse me if there are any inconsistencies in the story.

The first part of the story is very long, but please try to bear with me. It's not too important to the story though, so if you want to skip ahead I'll put a line breaker when the actual story starts.

**Disclaimer**: I do not own My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic or Halo, they belong to their respective owners and this or any other fics I write were not made for any monetary gain whatsoever.

* * *

Earth was burning.

Not that this was entirely new concept; any human still alive would have told you that at this point that it was almost expected. That with all the various threats over those final years something would have been able to carry out the deed. That humanity would one day not be able to beat back her enemies and that Earth would share the same fate that all planets that sheltered them faced. That they were doomed and that there would be nothing they could to stop it.

Indeed, there were points before during the war when some had thought that this moment had come long before now.

Some had thought that it was the end when they encountered the religious coalition of alien species known as the Covenant in what would be known as the first and perhaps the worst tragedy of the soon to follow Great war.

The colony Harvest had been shocked when a fleet of five Covenant ships came out of slipspace and destroyed the small UNSC security fleet in orbit. After this there was nothing to stop the alien forces from completely eradicating the colony.

The local main system UNSC fleet had gone to investigate the distress signal and then subsequent silence of the colony and engaged the now outnumbered Covenant forces.

The following battle and the destruction of the colony resulted in over six hundred thousand casualties and the loss of ten UNSC warships. This seems to be an insignificant loss compared to the future, but it was the greatest defeat the UNSC had suffered in over the past century.

The Covenant ships suffered minimal damage and returned to the process of burning the planet.

When the Covenant ships left the system, they sent a communique to the two damaged frigates that were left of the UNSC fleet they had destroyed. The message was transmitted to the UNSC command and when translated, those that heard felt as if ice had been stabbed into their bodies.

'_This was merely the first step in the extermination of your species, the cleansing of your presence from this plane of existence. Humanity will rue the day it set foot out into the galaxy and it will be wiped away as if it had never been. Cower in fear you fools, for the might of the Covenant will crush you as if you were the merest of insects.'_

Though at first there was mass panic and despair, the calmer heads reasoned that this would just not be possible. That the empire of thousands of worlds that humanity had formed could never be truly destroyed, that if humanity just simply applied itself to this situation like it has done countless times before that they would undoubtedly succeed against this new threat.

After a few other engagements with the Covenant that were of no real importance some people started to doubt the seriousness of the threat, there were even public cries of derision against this alien proclamation of humanities doom. After all, how could an empire that spanned over hundreds of systems and thousands of planets just simply be destroyed?

Not easily, was the answer.

In a period of twenty eight years the Covenant proceeded to annihilate the once proud empire of humanity, despite the fierce fight that every man and woman in the UNSC would put up in defense of their homes and families. Worlds burned, armies were shattered and there seemed as if there no possibility of victory.

This was not without cost for the Covenant however, they soon realized that even as they gutted their enemy and trapped humanity in a corner, it could still throw out punches that they had to be wary of. Blows that cost the Covenant billions of lives as they continued to exterminate the human population of the universe that numbered little over a trillion.

The most successful of these blows was a super soldier program, a program that had been originally developed to produce anti-insurrectionist agents that would be able to operate and shut down any rebel activities on their own before they became too serious a threat. These agents, known as Spartans, were thrown into situations that any sane person would tell you were suicidal while being told to accomplish the impossible.

Spartans, to this day, have a success rate of over 95 percent.

This achievement, along with many others, was not overlooked and soon the Spartans were thrown into a far more pivotal role in the war.

A few years into the conflict and things were not going well for humanity; over a hundred worlds glassed, dozens of fleets destroyed and billions of lives taken away by a seemingly unstoppable enemy. There were human victories of course, but even though each and every one, no matter their size or importance, was hyped out of proportion this did not change what was happening to the human race, they were losing hope.

To counter this, the UNSC charged ONI with a seemingly simple task; find a symbol. A symbol that reflected what every human had been taught or been made to believe, that Earth was the strongest might in the galaxy and it could face down any challenge, any foe. ONI looked, and they found the Spartans.

The Spartan program was given new importance and was made to expand and improve its production of these super soldiers. Generation 1 Spartans were quickly dispatched and though the results were promising and their actions boosted the moral of the people, they were still not enough to become the invincible sword and shield ONI knew they would eventually need to inspire the people to fight to the end.

A change in the manufacture of Spartans was needed and it was found in one Dr. Catherine Halsey, who replaced the then head of the Spartan program. The doctor implemented the plans to create the soldiers who would become known as the pillars of humanity; the generation 2 Spartans.

Taken as children, they were selected for their exceptional mental and physical physiques and were then put through what one of the instructors called," A little bit of man made hell." The children, though they were only referred to as trainees in the few official reports later revealed to the public, were subjected to brutal and often times even cruel physical workouts and combat scenarios, all the while they were expected to achieve above average understanding of science, mathematics, reading, writing, and military tactics.

They also underwent periods of highly dangerous and experimental procedures to improve every quality they were first chosen for to levels that could only be described as something approaching god-like.

The trainees were instilled with military value and the understanding of war, but most of all they were taught to believe that they were they both something less and more than humanity. They were taught to be humanities protectors, its guardians and its warriors.

The results were spectacular, each one stood over 7 feet tall, possessed the strength of a dozen men and were capable of brushing off blows that would have torn normal soldiers to pieces. They could pilot any vehicle, use any weapon and could assume any position in the army. This combined with the MJOLNIR armor, which included the ability to house AI, gave the UNSC a small army of unstoppable warriors.

A thousand children were kidnapped from various planets that would soon be hit by the covenant and taken to a hidden government training facility on Reach and were put through 14 years of training. Six hundred and twenty four gen 2 Spartans were later deployed. These were considered acceptable losses.

Those gen 2 Spartans, along with the advanced fleets of the inner colonies, fought the covenant to a near standstill until the final years of the war. The extermination of humanity by the Covenant was still ongoing, but now the humans were forcing the Covenant to pay extremely high prices for every world they took, high enough they hoped, that the Covenant would be exhausted by the fight and would not be able to continue the war if Humanity could just hold for a while longer.

These hopes were shattered when the Covenant found Reach and destroyed the last of the gen 2 Spartans.

It was 3 years before the war ended and by this time Reach had become the main stronghold of the UNSC. It was one of the last three fortress worlds still standing and it was the only one besides Earth that had been thought undiscovered by the enemy, and so it was a natural choice for a gathering spot for the one hundred and three gen 2 Spartans that were still left for a major offensive op aimed at grabbing several of the leaders of the Covenant in a desperate attempt to end the war.

The covenant learned of this gathering and saw a chance they could just not let go. It was only week before operation _Red light_ was to begin when the largest Covenant fleet yet seen in the war came out of slipspace in orbit over the planet and commenced what would be the most desperate and bloodiest battle both sides had ever seen, only ever matched by the subsequent battles on Earth and against the Flood.

The battle ended after three days and though only half of the Covenant ships were in any condition to make another jump out of the system, Humanity suffered a greater loss. Not only had all active gen 2 Spartans had been killed, with the notable exception of the one known as Master Chief, all but a few of the future ones at the training facility, over a thousand trainees who would have been deployed in a few years, had been as well.

Humanity reeled at this blow and soon the fire of the Covenant wrath started engulfing worlds at a rate faster than ever. Only through making Master Chief and his actions in the discovering and destruction of the ring construct known as Halo a shining beacon of the might of the UNSC were they able to prevent planet wide riots on every human world still standing.

The UNSC had thought it wise to not mention the Flood in their addresses to the public about Master Chief's soon to be legendary exploits.

There was doubt about resuming the considerably expensive and resource consuming Spartan program after the events on Reach, but these were laid to rest when Master Chief returned from the ring world.

Due to time constraints as well as increasing shortages of materials, the production of gen 3 Spartans resembled the gen 1 process, in that they took pr-existing high quality soldiers who volunteered. The only real difference between the generations was the amount of augmentation they went under. Gen 3 Spartans were put under nearly twice as much augmentation as any other generation in order to try to match the quality of the gen 2 Spartans.

These augments placed a great deal of strain on the body, another reason why they used children due to their being more susceptible to change before and during puberty, and they killed or crippled eighty percent of the volunteers. Only one hundred gen 3 Spartans were declared fit for combat.

ONI, seeing a need for them later, gathered the few remaining gen 2 trainees that had survived the battle of Reach and put them through extreme training in conditions that could only be described as soulless. They fed the trainees ideas in this state, to be what humanity needed, that nothing else mattered but the protection of Earth and it people. The Spartans produced from this process were later called gen 4 Spartans.

Though small in number the Gen 3 Spartans provided the show of force the UNSC desperately needed as the latest war summary before the prophet Regret's fleet discovered Earth in the second last year of the war was given to public; Earth was now the only planet in the fortress world classification out of the original fifty two while only thirty four colony worlds were left of the one thousand, five hundred and fifty three from before the war. Out of the near trillion humans, only twenty eight billion were left.

By the time the main Covenant fleet attacked Earth after they had fled from the flood infestation on High Charity, The situation had only become worse, Only Earth and two other colony worlds were left with only fourteen billion humans left between them.

The invasion by the Covenant, arrival and destruction of the Flood, and the assault on Installation 00 further cut into these numbers.

Even though the situation seemed worse than ever before, there was hope in remnants of humanity. They hoped that if they could stop the prophet Truth in this final battle that the war would finally end.

The destruction of Installation 00 and High Charity seemed to justify these hopes, and the treaty with the former Covenant species of sangheilis gave humanity a cause for both celebration and of mourning.

They had done it, they had survived!

This along with so many other thoughts of joy was crushed when an urgent communique came from the Sangheilis mere months after the war's end, the Flood had attacked their worlds and it was winning. It had infested their worlds just like it had attempted to with Earth and had started to spread throughout whole systems. Though they fought hard, the sangheilis realized they only had one choice, to retreat.

They did so, and it was to Earth.

The two species quickly came to an agreement; humanity would provide the supplies to the sangheilis if they would provide the use of their ships for the evacuation of Earth and her colonies in a desperate inter-species evacuation, they were abandoning their worlds.

Small fleets were sent out with the simple instructions to slow down the advance of the Flood in any way possible. With these fleets went the remainder of the gen 3 Spartans and the UNSC's greatest military power, the gen 4 Spartans.

Each gen 4 had been given a hyper lethal rating of ten, something only Master Chief had accomplished before. The gen 4 Spartans were outfitted with the latest technology, including the Ragnarok armor, as well as nuclear suicide gear with the express orders to use them when necessary. Ragnarok armor was the pinnacle of both doctor Halsey's vision and the Spartan program. These battle groups slowed down the advance of the Flood long enough for most of the evacuation to succeed, most but not all.

The last remaining team of gen 4 Spartans were ordered to do what they could and when all else failed, they were to implement operation _Firestorm_, the detonation of every nuclear warhead in their sector.

This is the story about one gen 4 Spartan who had been given a different mission, and how it led to him being thrown into a world so different from his own.

This is a story about a shattered hero and those that put him back together.

* * *

_'Why couldn't the package be silent?'_

This was the singular thought of the armored juggernaut known as a Spartan as he ran and stumbled through the ruined building and streets of a once proud city. The roars and warbling cries of the creatures that had once been human echoed from behind him, not falling behind no matter how much he ran.

'_I've already explained to it that we had to be silent, why must it insist on making these noises? They are natural sounds to make under these conditions, but their purpose is to attract protection and it already has it'_

The Spartan was confused and a little annoyed at his charge, it kept on crying despite frequent warnings from him to be silent. Admittedly it was an improvement over the demands for its parents but it was grating none the less with the pain in his skull that came from a earlier blow to the head.

The Spartan broke out of this chain of thought as he realized that he was hearing more of the same cries that came from behind them now coming from in front of them. The Spartan frowned underneath his helmet, These lapses of concentration were causing difficulty.

Perhaps the head injury was a bit more serious than he had thought.

Quickly deciding that diverting from his course would cost too much time, time they needed if they were to avoid the event. He was not sure what the event was anymore, his mind was getting too fuzzy, it had been since the blood had started moving down his face. All he could make out clearly was three things; the event was something that needed to be avoided, there was a way to do so in the south west ONI complex of the city and that he needed to get ready to fight before he rounded the next corner.

Latching onto the last thought, the Spartan quickly went through the checklist, arm cocked to throw the package? Check. Everything else? Also check.

The package, quickly realizing what the Spartan intended since he had done it a few times already, stopped crying and with a pout on its face uttered the first three clear words it had said all morning," I hate you."

Now smirking underneath the helmet, the Spartan quickly turned around the corner and surveyed the mob made up of various infected species. Seeing over thirty infected humans and sangheili along with nearly a dozen other forms, including an infected hunter in the middle of the pack, all now charging down the road between two half collapsed towards them.

"Too easy", the Spartan muttered.

He threw the package into the air, reaching a height of near fifty feet, over the crush of Flood. _'Ten seconds' _the thought bounced around in the Spartan's head. Moving forward and drawing two pistols, they made a continuous report like thunder as he emptied the clips in three seconds into the hoard before him. Holes the size of melons opened up in the infected that had stood in front of the hunter, all of them spraying out a sickly yellow fluid and gas in the place of blood as the custom bullets ripped through them.

The Spartan moved towards the hunter with a speed that defied the eyes and leaped over the over the energy blast that it had sent toward him. He landed on and used the hunter as a springboard to launch himself towards the now falling package, attaching two plasma grenades to the cracked casing of the hunter's arm mounted plasma cannon while doing so. The hunter, who had been forced to the ground when the one ton Spartan had jumped on it, could only stare in as much confusion that was still allowed to it as the grenades glowed brighter and brighter.

The Spartan, who had grabbed the package eight feet above the ground, hit the duracrete of the road and locked his armor down while sheltering the package in front of him by directing his shield to cover it as well in preparation of the expected explosion.

The Spartan was not disappointed.

The grenades ruptured the power core of the plasma cannon, which resulted in an explosion that either incinerated or buried in rubble any Flood still standing.

The Spartan shifted the rubble that had fallen on him off and regarded the surroundings to see if any of them had survived while checking the package. It was alive and now judging by its facial expression sulking when he picked it up again and started to run again. '_Fifteen seconds' _mused the Spartan.

This head injury really was more serious than he had thought.

'_Or maybe it's to do with not having your squad with you anymore' _whispered a little voice in his mind. The Spartan frowned for a few seconds before giving his head a slight shake ," They are with me", he muttered while glancing at one of the pouches on his hip," In there, in me and in this ch...in the package as well."

'_Package huh' _the voice sounded out snidely,' _do you mean the child you are now carrying, the child that your entire squad sacrificed themselves for you to reach believing that it was something vital to the war effort? Only for you to realize after finding only a half dead woman and her child that you had been sent on this suicide mission merely to find a general's family when you should have been assisting with the evacuation.'_

The Spartan shuddered as pieces of memory of the day flashed through his mind.

He and his team of marines holding off another wave of the horrors that were spreading across the globe, letting another convoy of civilians make it to the waiting spacecraft.

Meeting General Theo while the team rested and receiving instead of the usual orders they were told to proceed into infested territory to enact a high profile retrieval.

His squad heading to the coordinates in the city, his heart breaking slightly at the sight of this beautiful planet he had devoted his whole being to defending and that was now being destroyed by the Flood.

A loud crash...looking up and seeing Flood pods falling directly towards the team...him shoving the others out of the way...impact ...being throw against a wall and blacking out... hearing gunshots and yells...his team...dying.

When he had come too there had only been two of his team left, standing over his body as they couldn't move it and they had refused to leave him. There was Flood pouring in from all sides and by the time he was back on his feet the last two had joined the rest of the team. He was on his own against hundreds of the creatures.

Few of them escaped.

After his rage lost its edge he gathered the dog tags and video chips of his former teammates and proceeded on with the mission.

'_And then you found just the two of them; no data, no weapons, nothing important at all to the war effort. All you retrieved was a single child, versus the thousands you could have been saving.' _The voice attempted to continue but the Spartan interrupted.

'If you are trying to tell me that the general had failed in his duty I already know that, he allowed his personal issues to affect his larger view of the war, something that I am seeing too often these days. But this does not change anything for me; my duty is to save as many lives as possible now."

The Spartan kept his mind blank for a few moments as he sorted out his emotions. 'And if that means that the deaths of my comrades were not in vain if I save this girl then so much the better. Remember what they said that one time; that each and every one of them would be prepared to sacrifice their lives if that would ensure the survival of even the smallest bit of humanity.'

The Spartan felt his resolve harden as he formed the words in his head,' She is their little bit of humanity and I will ensure she survives."

'_Good answer as always'_

'I aim to please', he quipped, smiling for a few seconds until it turned into a frown,' I wish you were still with me Sarah.'

The voice, which had belonged to his AI partner Sarah, did not respond since she had turned rampant a few years ago.

This head wound was seriously messing with him now.

The child, who had noticed that the big metal man that her mother had told her would bring her somewhere safe had not told her to be quiet in last few minutes, was looking at him in concern as she voiced a question in a timid voice," Are you okay?"

The Spartan stared for a few moments and simply saying," yes", before doubling the pace and promising her in his mind that everything would be alright, no matter what.

* * *

Okay, that was a bit more writing than I expected to do at first. Anyway, I'm cutting off here for two reasons; one, to make a cliff hanger and two, to see what you guys think of it so far and whether you would continue to read it if I continued to write it.

If yes then I'm probably going to hit the pony side of things in chapter 3, after he gets off the planet.

Also I apologize for any spelling mistakes or such, please feel free to point out any you see.


	2. Chapter 2

Due to the fact that some people actually seem interested in this story, including one guest reviewer who apparently has control over creepers and also knows where I live...some fucked up stuff but still a review asking for continuation is nice to receive, I will continue writing this story.

Also thanks to Inky Shades, hope you continue to like my story.

'Thoughts'

"Speaking"

* * *

'Shit, only 6 percent power left, have to get this done quickly.'

This was of the few coherent thoughts of the Spartan as he trudged through the body filled corridors of the building. Though the pain from his skull had dulled and the blood on his head had long since dried, he was feeling more unsteady than he had before. Maybe it had something to do with the internal damage in the rest of his body. Yeah that sounds right. Would also explain the blood coming from his mouth, the Spartan noted as he tasted it.

Oh, and the bullet wounds in his back, couldn't forget those.

Stumbling, the Spartan cursed and tried to clear his head," Damn it to hell, how could that thing even exist. For that to happen to one of us was supposed to be impossible, and for one of us, who devoted our whole beings to our cause, to be forced to do things like this..." The Spartan tried not to stare at the bodies as he kept on moving, now shaking.

The child, who had hidden her face in his armor and had been whimpering while holding the bloody compress against her side, but now looked at him with innocent concern. "Are you alright? She asked with a frown.

The only response was an increase in pace and a decrease in muttering. 'How could I be alright after that, after learning what I now know and what I let happen to you' the Spartan thought with a rising sadness and something that he had not felt in years, a feeling that made him want to tear everything near him apart.

Fear, for the first time in years the Spartan felt fear.

The Spartan, who sensed that he had emerged from the corridor into a vast open space, realized with a growing sense of panic that he was falling towards the floor.

Quickly catching himself on his knees and setting the child on the ground, he winced as his body ached and his ribs voiced their discomfort. The Spartan started to tear at his helmet, feeling as if he couldn't get enough air in his lungs. Setting it on the ground, the Spartan gulped down air with his eyes wide and arms shaking, all the while the child stared at him in trepidation.

Squeezing his head between hands now while forcing his eyes shut, the Spartan tried to focus on the situation at hand, the child needed medical attention, he needed a rest, and his armor needed time to recharge. 'If I had just been a bit faster than she wouldn't be hurt and now I'm just sitting here, struggling to hold myself together just because of what I saw' he mumbled scornfully.

Knowing they were desperate for time, the Spartan attempted to stand but only got halfway up before the lightness in his head forced him down again, only this time he was unable to catch himself as his vision started to darken at the edges. 'No, I don't want to see that again. I don't want to...' was all the Spartan thought before he completely blacked out.

(20 minutes ago, nearing the ONI complex)

'This doesn't feel right'

The Spartan had yet to encounter another group of Flood since the last one, yet behind him he could always hear the roars of the creatures. Not that he wasn't grateful for the break, he was tired from fighting without rest for days and his suit only had seven percent power left.

Spotting his destination, he started to change his course to approach the complex from the side, only to find the way several streets later blocked by silent swarms of the creatures. He quickly ran back the way he came, stopped, turned and prepared for a fight.

The Spartan braced himself, neither he or his armor was in any condition for a prolonged fight but he couldn't let any of them follow him into the complex and let them have any chance of damaging the...whatever the thing was that would let them get off the planet before the before the last Covenant cruiser in orbit left and the nukes detonated.

That piece of information had come back to him soon after he had blown up the hunter. The rather large explosion had jogged his addled memory and he could recall what the event was.

As soon as the last surviving humans that could be saved were off planet, over fifty megaton fusion nukes would be detonated, the projected yield would ensure that not only no human would be left to the horrors of the Flood, but that it would also leave no trace of their plans to the enemy. However, it would also leave no trace of him or the girl as well.

The Spartan frowned, confused at the apparent lack of pursuit. He heard the now suddenly vocal swarms of course, but they were not getting any closer. Moving directly toward the complex again, he started to hear more cries coming from the opposite side of the way he had attempted to go.

'They have me surrounded, why don't they attack.' The Spartan cautiously walked forward, knowing there was no time to waste as the nukes were set to explode at seventeen hundred and it was already 4:00 pm. 'Always keeping a set distance from me and letting me know that they are three of my sides, it's as if they want to go to the complex, but why would they...'

The Spartan froze as his mind cleared for an instant and he realized what was going on with a growing sense of horror and incredulity.

'They're herding me, they're fucking herding me. But what the hell to?'

This question was soon answered as the side of a building about ten metres in front them exploded into the street as something came through it. The Spartan put the child down as he drew his two pistols and advanced. The dust was begging to settle down and he could just make out a hint of the glint of metal and a humanoid figure lying crumpled on the ground.

The Spartan stopped a few feet away and waited for the dust to completely settle down. When it did a few seconds later he saw a mangled body of a marine. The Spartan quickly pivoted and aimed at the hole the body had created when thrown and saw something he would never forget emerge from it.

It was another Spartan, a Flood infected Spartan in full armor.

It stood only half a head shorter than the gen 4, decked out what used to be silver coloured MJOLNIR armor. It was now mostly stained with various different coloured fluids and its hands were a solid red and dripping with what seemed to be blood. The armor was mostly intact, though there many dents and cracks, except for its right arm where the usual battering ram of flesh all large Flood creatures had, though the claws were not usual, was now located.

On its left hand he could a shotgun that seemed bonded to the creature on the outer side of the limb. The visor of its helmet was broken and through it he could a snarling fang filled mouth that was drooling yellow and red fluid.

It had been eating the body it thrown through the wall.

'No, this isn't possible, the gift was supposed to be unusable to the flood' thought the Spartan, who was too shocked to do anything for a few moments.

To all Spartan the armor they wore was an almost sacred gift; it gave them the ultimate advantage over any foe. If they weren't stronger than their enemy, then they were quicker, and if they weren't quicker than they could win out through endurance. It was considered the christening of a Spartan when he received his armor for the first time; it signified that he was now something more than human. A person who tried to use the latest armor without augments would not only be unable to operate the armor without the neural command interface, but would be torn apart by the armor itself without the dangerous body enhancing procedures every Spartan received.

The neural interface was the reason why the Flood couldn't use Spartan armor; the infection process always changed the brain structure and would damage it. The few Spartans they had found infected were barely able to move in the one ton armor.

Apparently this was no longer the case.

Snapping out of his daze when the infected Spartan charged at him with speed nearly at his own level. He was barely able to get out two shots while diving to the side, the bullets barely slowing the creature down as they slammed into it. Though he managed to avoid full impact, he grunted when the right hand of the creature slammed into his side, probably cracking some of his ribs with its inhuman strength and depleting his shields.

When the Spartan hit the ground he noticed the child had not moved from the spot he had left, frozen by terror. Groaning and standing slightly while the creature tried to shake out of its own daze, one of the bullets had hit its helmet, he took aim and fired the last of the rounds in the pistols at the monster who was now dangerously near his charge in an attempt to keep its attention on him.

This availed to nothing as the sounds of the bullets firing and slamming into the armoured back of the horror jolted the child out of it fear induced trance and she started to back away while letting out a terrified wail, capturing the attention of the infected Spartan.

The Spartan, who had mentally command his armor to shift into its configuration for speed ever since he had fired the first bullet, ran to place himself between the two of them. Noticing the creature was raising the arm with the shotgun and was aiming it at the child, the Spartan only had two thoughts as raced towards them.

'Please let me make it in time' and 'No shields, this is going to hurt.'

Just barely able to jump in the way in time, a little use of the thrusters on his back helped in this regard, he heard the shotgun go off while feeling the pellets from the shell hit him. The Speed configuration left vulnerabilities in his defences and when he hit the ground he moaned in pain from the hunks of metal that had pierced those weak spots.

The creature was about to fire again at the downed Spartan when it felt its foot hit something that hadn't been there before. Looking down it noticed two strange metal orbs that were resting against its foot. Too late its natural instincts and remnants of the host's memories warned it of danger right before the grenades exploded, lifting the creature off its feet and flinging it through the air. It ended up going through the side of a building and caused it to partially collapse, burying it in rubble.

The Spartan noted this with pleasure as he got back up, ignoring the pain coming from his wounds and looked towards where he had last seen the girl. Seeing her lying on the ground he hurried over to her. When he arrived he took in her situation with despair filled eyes.

She was clutching a wound in her side, her face going pale and her breathing becoming fast and small from shock. Acting quickly the Spartan reached for the can of bio-foam attached to the side of his hip, only to find that it had been pierced by the shotgun blast.

The Spartan tore it in half, the pressure had been let out so he couldn't use the nozzle, and scooped some in his hands. Prying the child's hands away from her side and pressed the foam against her side. The foam immediately started to harden and expand in the wound, sealing it against blood loss and infection while releasing a series of drugs into her system. The Spartan waited for the usual reaction to the process and held her down.

After a few seconds the child started to scream in pain, futilely wriggling to escape the Spartan's grasp. This continued for a few moments while the foam did its job, until the pain killers in the foam took effect some seconds later.

The child looked up at him and asked the first question that came to her young, tired and drugged mind," Is the monster dead?"

The Spartan paused from wrapping her side in gauze that he had in another pouch and replied," Yes it is, and you are going to be just fine."

The child smiled at him before falling asleep in his arms as he picked her up and started moving again. The Spartan felt relieved, he had never been good at what he just, the training made sure of that.

After all, why would anyone want a Spartan to lie to them?

Everything was not alright, he was not alright and his armor was now flashing a warning on his hud saying that he only 6.5 percent power left.

She would die soon if she did not receive expert medical care, the foam would not have been able to deal the internal damage since it had been merely pressed and sprayed into the wound.

And he could not of course forget the biggest lie of all.

The monster was not dead, no chance of it. He had merely made it angry, and when it got out the rubble it would come for them.

(End flashback)

The Spartan moaned as he was dragged back from unconsciousness by something tapping on his visor, which stopped after he started moving again. A quick look at his wrist PDA told the Spartan he had only been out for only a few moments and that he still had twenty minutes, and now 6.4 percent power, to find whatever the hell the past him had thought would get them off world.

A quick look at the girl told him that even though she was more pale and shaky than before, she was still a far cry from the condition she was in when she was first shot. The Spartan lay his head back on the ground and considered getting up and continuing.

'What would be the point of that' he wondered tiredly, at this point beyond weary and was starting to completely abandon hope. 'It will only cause both her and me more pain if we moved and it unlikely that even if we got off world that there would be much help.'

The Flood had arrived when there still was a projected 10 percent of the population still left planet side and the fight in space to allow the refugee ships to continue the evacuation had been desperate and bloody. By now there would little or no ships capable of fighting back and the refugee ships were probably already gone, forced to abandon all those who hadn't made it yet.

'What a fucking stupid plan this was' he thought as a sense of hysteria welled up in him,' go to the ONI complex building, who the hell thought of that, oh yeah it was me!' 'Well you know what past me, you can take this so called plan of yours and shove it up your-'

"Ship."

Looking at the child in front of him now, he saw her glance at him and point over his head to something beyond him.

"Ship."

Getting up slightly and looking over his shoulder, he surveyed the room he was now barely in and realized two things.

One, the room he was in was actually a hanger and two, berthed in this hanger was the most welcome sight he had seen in days.

Docked not fifty feet away was a _Resolute_-class shuttle. These ships were known as the general's chariot to the forces of the UNSC as they were the vehicle of choice for the leaders of humanity. These ships were capable of taking on several larger fighters and winning, they had saved the lives of more generals and admirals than anything else in the war.

They were also capable of slipspace travel.

Staring for a few moments, not able to believe that the ship was actually there, the Spartan laughed and shouted out while getting up,

"Past me, you are a certifiable fucking genius."

* * *

Okay, another chapter done! Can I get some applause here? No? Well any way I hope you enjoyed reading this and that you'll keep on reading when I post future chapters.

I will include a full accounting of the Ragnarok armor and its abilities in the next chapter.

Also I won't have much time to work on this for a few days, school and shit, so don't be surprised if I don't update until sometime next week.

Thanks for reading.


	3. Armor explanation

**Author's notes: ** Alright I promised you guys a detailed explanation of the Ragnarok armor and so here it is. Though you may have to go through something similar when the Spartan, whose name I'm planning to reveal in one of those closing lines I like to use, describes what he is.

This is not another chapter. No story here, just that the explanation gotten way bigger than I had planned and I thought I should post it by itself in case you didn't care about it. This is mainly meant for those who haven't played Halo and have no idea about the armor Spartans wear.

If you just want to know the abilities and not any back story then proceed to the line of bold **0.**

* * *

The Ragnarok armor was a fusion between the brain child of Dr Halsey's Spartan program and technology taken from a forerunner mech construct.

Dr Halsey had been attempting to create newest generation of the MJOLNIR armor with a specific set of requirements and abilities in mind, such as.

Atmospheric insertion systems

Active AI transfer protocols.

Limited shaping of the energy shield (partial overlaps, airfoils etc.).

Inbuilt flight systems

Unfortunately, these features would have required technology that humanity had barely understood in theory at the beginning of the war and what they had developed in actual usable tech was too large and heavy even for the Spartans to handle effectively.

This nearly stopped the development process in its tracks until the team received word of an amazing discovery on one of the few untouched worlds by a team that was researching forerunner artefacts in the ancient ruins on the planet.

They had found what seemed to be some kind of control room, its purpose now forever lost but it had mattered to somebody at one point, the remnants of a last stand assured them of that.

One of those remnants was a humanoid battle construct they had never seen before.

Taking it back to base and taking the proper security measures, big guns in the hands of big marines, the science team tried to activate parts of the mech.

The results were shocking, the armor of the mech started move across the construct in a intricate pattern until it settled. The mech had been heavily damaged when they had found it but now seemingly new plates of armor were covering the still whole parts of it.

After investigating this, the team found that the armor of the mech was actually made up of thousands of thin sheets of an unknown alloy that could be manipulated by hundreds of tiny repulsers in the mech to assume an incredible number of forms.

The two greatest discoveries however, were the effects of the repulser fields and the constructs shields.

The fields made the armor seem weightless; one man could now pick up the mech when 5 couldn't before. By being held in place over the armor by the merest of distances meant that the wearer bore no weight and had complete free range of motion.

The shields of the mech were similar to its armor, emitters all over the construct allowed the shields to be manipulated into shapes as the wielder wished, though shield strength suffered if made too large.

These discoveries were quickly relayed back to ONI, who then brought in Dr. Halsey on the find. Halsey, realizing that this could be the key for her own project, quickly set about replicating the technology.

The results, though simplistic compared to the original, was a set of Spartan armor that met and exceeded everyone's hopes and expectations.

By taking advantage of the repulser effects, and other technologies taken from the mech, they found that they were not only able to implement the planned advancements but that they were able to completely overhaul the armor in every aspect.

Spartan armor is divided into three layers; the outer shell, the inner shell and the bodysuit.

The outer shell, consisting of the titanium alloy plates, was improved by way of materials used. Before the discovery, the design team had been limited in the choice of what to use as armor plating by issue of sheer weight. Spartans were human in the end and all humans have limits, and the use of technology to solve this dilemma made for clunky and unwieldy designs.

With the weight issue solved, the design team was able to utilise the strongest materials known to man, the super heavy and dense alloys used to make the superstructure skeletons of the largest star ships.

The design of the outer shell had to be changed from the original Spartan design to accommodate and take advantage of the new technology to its fullest extent and to allow some of the pre-planned advancements,

They decided to follow the example of the mech and have the armor plates separated into hundreds of thin pieces that would be housed in a series of compartments running along the outsides of the limbs and the front and back of the wearer, all connected by a metal skeleton that contained the repulsers.

The repulsers that they were able to create were less powerful than the originals and are only able to decrease the weight to about a quarter of the amount rather than totally.

When activated the plates would come out of the compartments, which held them in a field that reduced their weight entirely with single large repulsers that were able to make the plates weightless but could not manipulate, and then spread out over the Spartan.

The resulting armor plating was capable of taking multiple rounds from both scorpions and wraiths with little damage, and keeping the wearer alive during so as well. The new plating also one could protect any vulnerable equipment when not in use, such as thrusters for flight and manoeuvres.

Modern day jetpacks for specialized forces were large and heavy with both the individual power source and armor that prevented it from exploding from a single shot. Add the weight of a Spartan and the idea of any kind of flight other than long jumps became an impossibility. With the new armor plating the idea of housing the whole package in the suit was now a viable option.

The result was two fusion thrusters built into the back of the outer shell that could be retracted and covered by the plating. Powered by the experimental fusion-plasma reactors in the suit, they allowed the Spartan great manoeuvrability in both air and water, though actual flight was too energy consuming to be practical.

To use these thrusters however meant that almost all the plates had to be stored in the compartments to reduce the load, leaving the wearer with only the protection of the under shell and the body suit.

The under shell consists of two aspects; the electronics and the AI crystal matrix.

The crystal matrix is the way that AI's can be housed in Spartan armor, similar to the systems found in many star ships. No major changes were made to this.

The electronics however were changed, though mainly in quantity. With armor weight gone they increased the amounts of every system; shields, force circuits, etc.

Force circuits are the reason why it is dangerous for regular humans to wear the armor; they take every aspect of even the wearer's merest movements, speed and strength for example, and increase them exponentially. The smallest wave of the hand could become a slap capable of caving in a head or ribcage.

Only through their training are Spartans able to control their movements, but even they developed the habit of not taking any unnecessary movements for fear of crushing the nearby environment.

The shield emitters were increased in size to allow them to project other types of energy waves, including a light refracting type used by the covenant to cloak. This allowed the Spartan to, at the cost of an extreme energy consumption rate, to cloak or to create simple mirages around his immediate person.

The power reactors were stored on this level; three small experimental fusion-plasma reactors down the length of the spine that produced many more times the energy than previous models.

The body suit is much of the same story; increases in the slight protection it already offered and an added gel layer.

The gel layer of the suit regulated the temperature and other aspects of the suit environment, able to change its density to protect the wearer against sudden increases of pressures or changes of velocity.

The addition of another layer and the other features allows the wearer to survive and walk away from atmospheric insertion without the need for added equipment.

When field testing the armor however, the design team came across a fatal flaw. The energy requirements from the repulsers were greater than anticipated, the reactors were quickly overwhelmed and the suit became slow and sluggish with the plating locking down on the armor.

To fix this, the team was forced to include an energy dump in the suit to contain enough energy for the suit, one that would be recharged by the reactors when inactive.

However this only provided enough power for twelve hours going full force.

In the end they had to create a protocol for the Spartans about the energy consumption. It was this way that they designated and enforced the three forms of the Ragnarok armor.

**0000000000000000000000000000 0000000000000000000000000000 000000000000000000000000000**

The regular form, called the normal form, was with three quarters of the plates in the compartments and the other fourth deployed in a single layer across the suit without repulsers, the weight bearable to the gen 4 Spartans. This form burned through the energy depot at a level the reactors could match.

Flight form was the armor arrangement used when the Spartan had to maneuver quickly, and the only form that allows the use of the thrusters. In this form all but a few armor plates, which are held by the repulsers in a few key position, are retracted and the wearer is forced to rely on the weak inner armor and his speed for protection. This arrangement used energy at a rate to make its use inadvisable for long periods.

Lockdown form is used to endure punishing blows as all plates are deployed without any repulsers, forcing the Spartan stay in that position. The excess energy from the now unused compartments and repulsers is used to supercharge the shields.

The form that has the largest energy consumption is called the combat form, referred to as titan form informally, and is used only under the most dangerous of situations. All plates are deployed and held by the repulsers, leaving no weight on the Spartan at all, forming three layers of nearly indestructible armor while granting the Spartan complete freedom of motion and incredible speed. This form burns through the energy supplies in just twelve hours.

This was considered acceptable by the UNSC due to the fact that gen 4 Spartans were planned to only be deployed in defense of Earth.

In recognition of the fact that without it they would never have created this marvel, the team named the armor after the planet where they found the mech, Ragnarok.

Okay the looks of the damn thing. The compartments and the repulser exoskeleton resemble a much reduced form of the normal MJOLNIR armor MC wore in Halo 4 while the under suit is the same. The plates do not overlap like a snakes, they fit in next to each other. The helmet resembles the third version of the operator helmet.

The colors are a dark ebony for the exoskeleton, a light black for the under suit and a dark black for the plates.

* * *

This was probably unnecessary and stupid of me to write but I did it anyway, so we'll all just have to deal with it.


	4. Chapter 4

**Authors note's**: Alright, new chapter. Sorry for the wait and for the previous chapter, really sorry.

Since I always write too much in these notes of mine we'll just get right on with the stor-

"Hey!"

...What the? Where the hell did this come from and why can't I erase it?

"When are you going to get to the good part, you know, when he finally meets us and I can throw him a paaaarty!"

...Is this Pinkie Pie?

"Well duh, who else would it be silly human."

Well...uh...I honestly don't have response to that. (I'm going crazy, but I'm happy it's like this at least.)

"Well anyway, when is he gonna get here because I'm really booooooored. Like really really really bored and when I get this bored I end up throwing parties for no reason and then everyone in town starts getting tired of them and that makes me sad and when I get sad all my friends say sorry even if its not their fault and that-"

Okay, okay! It'll be either at the end of next chapter, or more likely, during the chapter after that. That good enough for you?

"Aw, it'll take that long?"

The sooner I start writing the faster you get to meet him.

"Oki doki loki, but you pinkie promise that you'll get it done soon?"

Fine, sure. (This means long chapters doesn't it?)

One eye poke later and a careful probe of my sanity, the story commences.

* * *

_Fucking genius...ucking genius...ing genius..._

The Spartan tried to calm down as he listened to the echoes of his shout and laughter bounced around the large hanger, but he was having difficulty doing so.

The combination of three days fighting without sleep, watching the world around him fall victim to the Flood, his squad dying, his many wounds and the emotional turmoil he had just went through had him in a state no Spartan had been in before.

He was giggling, giggling like a little schoolgirl.

With his ongoing attempts to regain his composure failing, he blamed the possible concussion, the Spartan picked up the child and stumbled toward the ship. The child, who was half asleep from exhaustion, whimpered and turned over.

"It hurts."

Reality crashed back into the Spartan and he quickly stifled the inane giggling. The situation was far from laughable; he and the girl were in critical condition, he had been through worse and survived but it was still a problem, and with his luck his recent actions had garnered some unwanted attention.

Having run the last bit to the ship, the Spartan skidded to a stop when he reached the entrance hatch and slammed his hand across the security panel. The hatch, after it had read the security pass imbedded in his glove for this very purpose, opened with a small hiss, admitting the Spartan and his charge.

Said charge, the Spartan noticed with panic, was losing color again and her breathing was slowing. He charged through the ship, passing by several rooms until he found the one he needed, the infirmary.

Setting the child down on one of the beds in the room, the Spartan rummaged through the cupboards and drawers, gathering the necessary items for treating the child. Quickly finding what he needed and going back to the side of the child, the Spartan performed what rudimentary first aid he could.

First he examined the extant of the internal damage to the child's body using a medical imager, a device capable of building images of the body and identifying key points of injury.

The Spartan sighed with relieve as he saw the results. Though it was life threatening at this point, no major arteries had been pierced and best of all the pellet that had hit her had gone right through. This meant he wouldn't have to dig out anything.

Putting down the scanner and reaching for the next item on the list, a small container of fluid that he poured over the bio-foam he had placed earlier. The small vial contained a chemical that dissolved the bio-foam. Next the Spartan lifted a can of biofoam and, grateful that the child being unconscious made this easier for both of them, inserted the nozzle in the wound and pressed the trigger.

The process was much faster than the last time, the intense pain only lasted a few seconds for her, and he was soon able to redress the wound in a snugger manner than before.

The last thing he did for her was to hook her to the tri-v system. It would analyse her in less than two minutes and provide any needed nutrients and minerals while administrating basic medication.

Done with administrating what little aid he could give her, he turned his attention to himself. Taking out a dull metal tube the size of a screwdriver and, after removing his helmet, the Spartan pressed one end against his neck.

The Spartan gave a slight wince as he felt the hundreds of microscopic needles inject him with a cocktail of drugs that made his veins feel like they were filled with fire. Shaking for a few seconds, the Spartan closed his eyes and gave a slight groan as felt his exhaustion from the ordeals he had so far faced seemingly disappear.

He had always hated how stim packs made him feel; like a ball of nervous energy that could unravel at any time, but at this point he had little choice.

His thoughts clearing, the Spartan started treating his own injuries. First he had to get rid of those bullets in his back. Grabbing the pliers from pile of supplies he gathered, he reached back towards the holes in his under armor, shifting the layer of plates out of the way with a thought.

The multiple layers he was wearing had slowed down the shotgun pellets enough so that they had barely gone a half inch in his lower back and he was able to dig them out with little effort.

The Spartan made no sound during this or when his suit activated the biofoam dispenser systems that he had replenished after he removed the last pellets.

The Spartan, after checking the girl's condition one last time, walked out of the infirmary and tried to recall the ship schematics from memory.

A two floor engineering room made up the ass of the ship, the sub-light engines were twice as large as for any other ship this size, and contained the slipspace systems.

The only entrance was on the top floor, leading into the hallway he was standing in now. There were six other hatches in the hallway.

Five were alternating across the sides of the corridor; leading to the armory, the infirmary, the VIP cabin, general quarters for the crew and guard, and the entrance to the ship itself. The last door, on the opposite side from the engineering room, led to the cockpit.

'Armory first, then secure the rest of the ship and get it ready for liftoff.'

The Spartan nodded, satisfied with the simple objectives. He checked his wrist again and saw that he still had a little over 15 minutes left until the nukes would be activated and turn the surface of the planet into a sea of ash and fire.

Moving quickly, the Spartan entered the armory and glanced through the assortment of dull black weapons hanging on the walls. At first only replenishing his stores of ammo and grenades, the Spartan paused at two points.

One was too grab an _Excalibur_ rifle. Based on the standard DMR, it was capable of stopping a brute in its track with one shot, helmet or no helmet.

The other was to consider taking one of the heavy weapons, but this thought was dismissed as the Spartan knew that their use could damage the ship, or the girl, and would make too large a noise.

Fully armed again the Spartan performed a quick search and inspection of the ship, finding nothing wrong. His worry slightly appeased he headed to the cockpit. It was nearly the same size as a _Longsword _fighter's, the ship used by MC to escape halo in the first game.

The Spartan headed to the main pilots console and inserted the chip he had taken from the back of helmet and placed it in one of the open slots on the side of the dash. Heading back towards the exit, the Spartan mentally commenced the ship's start up process.

Since he had refused to partner with another AI after Sarah, he had been given an upgrade to his neural network. He was able to access computer systems with his mind, though giving complex commands was beyond him. Imagine trying to draw two exactly identical pictures at the same time with your right and left hands. The ships response was translated from a series of signals by the tech in his head.

'_Start up process engaged, waiting for the command signal"_

_Clink_

Hearing the sound, the Spartan whipped out the rifle and turned towards the source, the general quarters. Heading in the Spartan frantically looked around, unable to see anything.

_Clink_

The Spartan had reached the end of the room by then and was startled as the sound came from behind him. Turning around and kneeling the Spartan could not fight against the confusion rising up in him.

_Clink_

There was nothing.

_Clink_

No monster, no anything. Not even a rat. The Spartan frowned, the sounds seemed to be coming from the center of the room, but there was nothing there but a tabl-

_Clink_

"Shit", the Spartan muttered," shit, shit, shit."

It was nothing but some empty mugs left on the table by someone, the ship activating had made them vibrate and hit each other lightly.

_Clink_

_Clink_

_Clink_

Losing control, the Spartan swept the mugs off the table. They flew the air, one landing in the hallway.

The Spartan seethed as he left the room, angry at lost time and his own stupidity.

Reaching the exit hatch, the Spartan took a few seconds to gather his now high strung nerves; despite the mug incident, things had been going to well for him so far, and opened the hatch.

The Spartan flinched and nearly fired the rifle at a hissing sound , when he realized it was just the door and not an enemy standing right outside wanting to tear off his limbs.

The Spartan frowned at this display of paranoia, but kept his guard and rifle up as he moved swiftly toward the operator room at the end of the hanger.

Reaching the room, he accessed the docking systems and was about the release the mooring clamps and open the hangar door when he heard the warbling cries of the flood echoing down the body filled corridor.

Knowing he had no time for a fight, the Spartan slammed his hand down on the control panel, colored lights flashing across the hanger as the giant double doors started to open, meant to warn people that a ship was about to depart. In this case it only made the creatures in the hallway more frenzied sounding.

Taking out one of his pistols and thumbing a grenade, the Spartan charged down the railing to the ship and made it halfway before they started to emerge from the corridor.

The Spartan activated the grenade and tossed it down the corridor past the first few who had made into the hanger. The Spartan let off five shots from his pistol, dropping those were now blocking his path as the grenade went off in a large explosion, causing parts of the ceiling to collapse and partially blockade the corridor.

The way now cleared, the Spartan went into the ship, all while mentally commanding the ship to leave the hangar per its pre-programmed launch course.

The Spartan sighed in relief as he slammed and sealed the hatch behind him. He felt the Shuttle start to move and he started to head to the infirmary to check on the girl.

Finding her still sleeping, the Spartan sat down next to the bed and removed his helmet. Glancing at his wrist and rubbing his face, the Spartan started talking to the unconscious child.

"Ten minutes kid, ten minutes more and we wouldn't be here anymore. I wonder if you truly understand what that means, that if you know what death truly is. It's different for us Spartans you know? It's different from anybody else."

The Spartan stopped and frowned slightly, slightly surprised he was voicing these deeply personal thoughts to this sleeping child.

"You know what kid, forget I mentioned it. You don't need to know about death, and you want to know why? Because-

The Spartan broke off his little monologue when the ship slowed and sent him a warning.

'_Anomaly detected, path obstructed.'_

The Spartan sprang to his feet and headed towards the front of the ship while jamming on his helmet.

'Eight minutes to go, shit. We don't have time for this.'

Entering the cockpit, The Spartan looked out the viewport and braced himself for what he thought he would see.

The universe, in all its infinite wisdom, did not disappoint the Spartan.

Standing on a smoking shell of a destroyed Scorpion right in front of the now opened hangar doors was the Infected Spartan, looking only a little dusty from its experience of being buried in rubble.

It was also staring right back at the Spartan, who couldn't but help voice the strange thought that had emerged in his mind.

"Maybe it's a forgive and forget type of creature."

The answering roar shot these hopes down as the ship came to a stop just in the immense doorway.

"Yeah, well fuck you too."

* * *

All right, I feel good about this chapter and I hope you guys do as well. Like I said before, I'll try to get to the Pony side of things soon, hopefully this week with a couple more chapters.

Thanks to U7VK7VOVV7V for the encouragement and to the others who had taken the time to include my story in their favourites and to follow it.

Thanks for reading.


End file.
